Offering regional and national programs, CIO (and CSO) events bring together some of the most respected names and thought leaders in information technology and security. Presented by CIOs and other senior level executives, these invitation-only programs offer timely topics and strong networking. Learn More »
Public Council Teleconference: Application Rationalization — Hidden Costs and Smart Decisions
November 17 at 11:00 am US/Eastern (GMT-5)
Join Honorio Padrón, of The Hackett Group, who will share the drivers for companies to tackle application rationalization and the results of research that define the hidden cost of complexity. Additionally, we will discuss key decision milestones—to start or not, holding the course steady and fulfilling expectations.
Virtual Desktop Cost-Benefit Analysis — Michael Jacobs, Catlin Group
The analysis contained in this presentation measures the cost of everything from the machines and licenses to the infrastructure for virtual vs. traditional desktop environments.
Honor your best senior team members - Apply for the CIO Ones to Watch Award
Get well-earned public recognition for your top up-and-coming team members, your IT organization and your enterprise. Award winners will be announced, publicized and feted in May 2010, great timing to help attract new IT recruits to your company.
Learn more about the CIO Executive Council »October 01, 2008 — Computerworld —
One of the pleasures of Linux is that you can try out different distributions to see which one works best for you. You like Ubuntu, but you want to fine tune the desktop engine? OK, try Kubuntu with its KDE desktop then. Some worthwhile distributions, however, don't get as much attention as they deserve. So, here's my list of five great distributions that you might want to try.
Before launching into my list, let me preface it by saying that this is a list of what I consider relatively easy to use desktop distributions. So, while Debian is a great distribution, I haven't included it because to get the most out of it you should be an experienced Linux user. I also haven't included special purpose distributions like my favorite system repair Linux, SystemRescueCD. It's a great system repair operating system. Even if you don't care for Linux and your job is bringing misbehaving PCs back into line you really should get a copy. It, however, isn't a good, general purpose desktop.
So, without further adieu, here's my list of the five best desktop Linuxes you may not have tried.
First, on my list is an old favorite of mine: SimplyMEPIS. What I like about this distribution is that, more so than any other Linux I know, it just works. It really does. I install it on any machine, it runs and life is good. I especially like that its creator, Warren Woodford, includes several small, but extremely useful utilities to make using the desktop easier.
So why haven't you heard of it? Well, MEPIS is in many ways a labor of love. Woodford isn't just the creator; he's also, by his own choice, the only major developer. That means that when sometimes life pulls him away from the distribution and that happened recently. Now, however, Woodford is back to working on his Debian-based distribution so a new version of MEPIS should soon be arriving. Trust me; it will be worth your time.
Another distribution which fell on hard times, but is back and looking really good is gOS (Good OS). The first version got a lot of attention as being the "Google operating system," because instead of emphasizing desktop applications it focused on bringing users Google's applications. It's not that, but after a 2.0 version, which wasn't that well polished, the latest version gOS 3.0, though, looks really sweet.
It's meant really for OEMs to install on netbooks, but you can download and use it on your own PC. It includes an installer for a small horde of Google Gadgets, as well as links to Google Mail, Calendar, Reader, etc. etc. You get the idea. You'll never want to run this distribution without an Internet connection, but with one, I'm finding it to be a lot of fun and darn useful.